Countenance Blog’s New Theory on the Move to Close Bars Earlier in East St. Louis, Illinois

I Think I Got East St. Louis All Wrong
June 4, 2012
By Countenance

Well, not ALL wrong.

For the past few months, I have been following this debate in ESL about closing times. More accurately than that, I have been ridiculing the effort to close the bars earlier, and also ridiculing the silver bullet mentality that surrounds that proposal. Official ESL, so I thought, buys into this notion that earlier closing times will magically make everything better.

My problem was, as I discovered earlier today, that I was incorrectly taking everyone and everything relevant to this question too literally. As it turns out, there might be a positive hidden agenda afoot here.

For that, let me direct you over to Nicholas Stix (see below), and also the first comment to this story from the fingers of yours truly.


MONDAY, JUNE 4, 2012 3:51:00 PM EDT
countenance said...

NS,

As you probably know from reading my own blog, I've been following a very similar modern day phenomenon in ESL. A lot of important people (save the Mayor who is worried about tax revenues) want to close the establishments earlier than they close now.

The "official" reason was that all of ESL's problems arise from St. Louis "thugs" (read: blacks) pouring over the bridges after the St. Louis bars close early to take advantage of ESL's late closing time. Obviously, ESL has enough black thugs of its own.

I have been ridiculing this proposal all along based on the official reasoning, and also ridiculing the official reasoning.

Now, reading this old Time story from KCMO, I'm starting to see the beauty in what they want to do in ESL. Maybe what's going on is that they want a relatively early LEGAL closing time in ESL, knowing full well that blacks won't want to stop drinking at 1 a.m., so they'll create speakeasies. That creates targets for the cops to knock back in order shake down the "owners" and "patrons" for snitching on who has pulled what unsolved violent crimes, while holding the Sword of Damocles of the liquor violations over their heads.

It's the same purpose that many gun laws serve, i.e., create a vast labyrinth of victimless technicality crimes, not necessarily to enforce them but to use them as a fulcrum to extract snitching from the demographic that refuses to snitch.

The Time article states that "Negro civic leaders" were on board. I.e., black preachers. Black preachers are the Big Chiefs of the black community. Keep 'em happy, stuff money in their mouths, give their kids sinecures, and they'll minimize the troubles you experience from the tribesmen. But for the Mayor of ESL, the early closing times seems to have the blessing (no pun intended) of the Big Chief Reverends in town.


[N.S.: If you want to understand what is going on in St. Louis City and County and environs, you have to read Countenance Blog. There’s simply no substitute.]